Movie Reviews

Posthumously exonerating Alan Turing may not be enough to remind the world of the mathematician’s role in computing, World War II, and gay history. The Imitation Game certainly will put the genius into the common conscious and not just outside tech history lore. Thankfully, the film does not rely on an Oscar-bait polish to tell a compelling story that revisits a time when the Axis powers seemed utterly unstoppable.

Nothing is more inspiring than a low-budget independent film with a fresh plot and an ensemble cast of character actors rising above the typical gunk, particularly the gunk often submitted to this site. Films like Trust, Greed, Bullets & Bourbon tend to live and die at film festivals, but the ensemble cast and clever mystery deserves a longer life-span, even if it becomes an unexpected gem on Netflix.

The perils of being a sniper in America’s 21st century wars is shown in the opening scene of AmericanSniper, where Chris Kyle has a mother and her son in his scope. It’s a taste of the oppositional warfare has become increasingly reliant on guerrilla tactics since Vietnam; ironically, the same tactics that helped America define itself in the 18th century.

Hippies will take offense to Inherent Vice, a dramatic farce set in the 1970s, where the boomer counter-culture is constantly in the cross hairs of the establishment. However, the “establishment” is seemingly undefinable as this expansive neo-noir with a sense of humor explores a chaotic series of events through the purple hazed eyes of the burned-out private detective, Doc Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix).

No one ever expected a segment from The Daily Show to be used as evidence to detain anyone, anywhere. The satirical news show often poked fun of serious news events or the media’s inflation of said events to solely increase viewership or drum up political bias. In Rosewater, Jon Stewart depicts Maziar Bahari’s plight as he is detained for almost four months during the Green Revolution, as adapted from Bahari’s own memoir Then They Came for Me.

Birdman(or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is an ambitious cinematic event that uses the whole of postmodernism to take digs at Hollywood, Broadway, and even itself. Michael Keaton embraces the elephant in the room as he plays an actor struggling to remain relevant in an industry that celebrates celebrity humiliation as entertainment, fueled by a twenty-four/seven internet of things.

Interstellar is the latest conceptual tour-de-force from Christopher Nolan, in which he traverses the scientific mysteries of deep space, while grounding his story in themes of love, family, and human perseverance. Although Nolan borrows from the likes of Kubrick, Tarkovsky, Ridley Scott, and others, Interstellar feels original and daring in its own right, as perhaps the first major feature film to reliably tackle 21st Century theories of astrophysics.

The wisdom of the elderly is priceless, but when your elderly babysitter owes money to loan sharks, the bank, and even to his own pregnant stripper/prostitute girlfriend, take the wisdom with a grain of salt. In St. Vincent, an unkempt, strapped-for-cash man becomes an unlikely babysitter and role model to a kid struggling to adapt to his new school. While certainly not the most original plot, St.

The critically-acclaimed, but low-rated cult sensation Community underwent an upheaval after its third season, when Dan Harmon, its creator, was fired. Just before his exit, he started a monthly live show called “Harmontown”, which became a weekly show and podcast and post-occupational outlet for his creativity. Harmontown is a documentary that chronicles a selective tour the self-titled podcast undertook several months after Harmon’s termination.

In 1863, Ulysses S. Grant (Tom Skerritt) is appointed as the Chief of Union Forces by Abraham Lincoln, who is under pressure to achieve more progress on the frontlines as the presidential election is around the corner. A freshman class of teenagers enroll into the Virginia Military Institute as the Civil War continues to reshape the American landscape and mindset. Maj. Gen. John C.

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